That you are fighting the urge to make @Datcord drown himself in Scotch via carefully chosen phrasing.
Magical Girl Lyrical Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Marsyas
- Start date
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
"Fish in the sea"?
Does Ziz try to turn her brothers against each other?
- Location
- California
Not so much against as for. She's definitely trying to set them up with each other. It turns out, Ziz is actually a huge shipper. Which... I dunno, does that make her less terrifying, or more terrifying?
Leviathan is however canonically against shipping.
IronLucario2012
<Verified Pokémon> <Licensed Mech Pilot>
- Location
- Ireland
Actually he himself doesn't care, it's just that everyone's too paranoid that he'll sink their ships to try.
*Glances at Datcord* ...Really? You really need to ask?
I can't tell if the joke went over your head or not...
Which is yet another way in which Wildbow demonstrates his total lack of understanding of economics.
- Location
- Germany
Pretty sure that crashing a few important harbor-cities hurts the shipping.
*snrk* .. so you're saying that Leviathan is the anti-Datcord?
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
So, Datcord VS Leviathan. When?
mdkcde
"Emotions are prohibited"
- Location
- Nani Sore?
Or rather that Datcord is the endbringer of Shipping.
IronLucario2012
<Verified Pokémon> <Licensed Mech Pilot>
- Location
- Ireland
banjo2E
Has left the planet
- Location
- Mafia Town
I kind of had the opposite reaction - the story started out all right, and the Lung fight was fairly good, but soon after that the characters started doing things that didn't at all mesh with how the story seemed to have been portraying them up to that point and I ended up losing all interest.
Marsyas
Surprisingly Jellicle
- Location
- Undimensioned and Unseen
Here, have a preview of the next chapter:
The dog shelter was in an abandoned warehouse. It still had electricity, but it mostly just illuminated the kennel area in the middle, leaving pools of darkness around the edges. The sound of the rain on the roof echoed weirdly in the cavernous space, but it was dry and as safe as it got outside of a shelter in a city that was under attack by an Endbringer.
Bitch's dogs began to growl warningly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she caught a glimpse of a pair of golden eyes shining in the gloom beyond the lights. "Come out," she commanded.
A shape came out of the darkness, quickly resolving itself into a woman with reddish hair. She was maybe 20 years old, and she had wolf ears and a tail the same color as her hair.
Bitch stared the woman in the eye, and the woman stared back. Neither looked away, and Bitch found her lip curling into a snarl. "Who are you?" she snapped.
"Arf," the woman replied without looking away. "Are you Bitch?"
Bitch nodded. "The fuck do you want?"
Arf broke eye contact, and Bitch shifted slightly in response. "I want your help," Arf said.
Bitch took in the woman's features, her ears and tail, the gem on her forehad, and she narrowed her eyes. The rain battered the roof, and a drop of water fell from the ceiling to land between them. "You're that wolf," she said.
"Yes," Arf answered.
"No."
"Why not?" Arf asked.
"Doesn't work on humans."
Arf smiled, but did not show her teeth. "You're wrong. I'm not a human that turns into a wolf."
Bitch looked uncommonly thoughtful. "Why should I help you?" she asked.
"My human is going to fight the monster that's putting you and your dogs in danger. We told her not to, but she's going. I'm going to help her. If you help me, I might survive it."
"Your master's doing something stupid, so you want to go die with her?" Bitch asked derisively.
"She's not my master," Arf snapped.
Bitch waited.
"We're friends," Arf finished in a gentler voice. "Will you help?"
Bitch thought about it.
Seven minutes later, as Arf left the shelter, the sky ignited in flames from horizon to horizon. The clouds evaporated and the rain stopped instantly.
Bitch watched from the window as a massive pillar of fire poured down onto something in the distance, drawing the light and heat of the sky down onto what she figured was probably the battle against Behemoth.
The light faded. And then a new rain began to fall on the waterlogged city: a rain of ash and embers.
Angelica whimpered, and Bitch scratched the dog's ears.
Bitch's dogs began to growl warningly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she caught a glimpse of a pair of golden eyes shining in the gloom beyond the lights. "Come out," she commanded.
A shape came out of the darkness, quickly resolving itself into a woman with reddish hair. She was maybe 20 years old, and she had wolf ears and a tail the same color as her hair.
Bitch stared the woman in the eye, and the woman stared back. Neither looked away, and Bitch found her lip curling into a snarl. "Who are you?" she snapped.
"Arf," the woman replied without looking away. "Are you Bitch?"
Bitch nodded. "The fuck do you want?"
Arf broke eye contact, and Bitch shifted slightly in response. "I want your help," Arf said.
Bitch took in the woman's features, her ears and tail, the gem on her forehad, and she narrowed her eyes. The rain battered the roof, and a drop of water fell from the ceiling to land between them. "You're that wolf," she said.
"Yes," Arf answered.
"No."
"Why not?" Arf asked.
"Doesn't work on humans."
Arf smiled, but did not show her teeth. "You're wrong. I'm not a human that turns into a wolf."
Bitch looked uncommonly thoughtful. "Why should I help you?" she asked.
"My human is going to fight the monster that's putting you and your dogs in danger. We told her not to, but she's going. I'm going to help her. If you help me, I might survive it."
"Your master's doing something stupid, so you want to go die with her?" Bitch asked derisively.
"She's not my master," Arf snapped.
Bitch waited.
"We're friends," Arf finished in a gentler voice. "Will you help?"
Bitch thought about it.
Seven minutes later, as Arf left the shelter, the sky ignited in flames from horizon to horizon. The clouds evaporated and the rain stopped instantly.
Bitch watched from the window as a massive pillar of fire poured down onto something in the distance, drawing the light and heat of the sky down onto what she figured was probably the battle against Behemoth.
The light faded. And then a new rain began to fall on the waterlogged city: a rain of ash and embers.
Angelica whimpered, and Bitch scratched the dog's ears.
- Location
- West Michigan
Reposting from the SB thread:
Eden: waves around her own Sting/ "Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you!"
Zion: leaps up from seat, waves Sting around/ "Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!"Marsyas said:
Eden: waves around her own Sting/ "Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you!"
Kinruush
Who?
- Location
- USA
Marsyas
Surprisingly Jellicle
- Location
- Undimensioned and Unseen
Update: 5.4 is at 3k words now, and after a busy day in which I had no time to write, progress is quick. Not sure how long it will end up being, but I'm betting it will be ready some time tomorrow (Saturday) evening, pacific standard time.
- Location
- america
Yay for updates. Soon we will reach the (I assume) end of the endbringer part. But, I am feeling dissapointed, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was too under control? It felt less dangerous? Less urgent? I don't know. It probably wasn't less dangerous than normal - Behemoth is an ENDBRINGER... but why do I feel something is off?
Is there a big danger / plot twist coming up?
Is there a big danger / plot twist coming up?
You will just have to read and find out.
5.4 - Who By Fire?
Marsyas
Surprisingly Jellicle
- Location
- Undimensioned and Unseen
Magical Girl Lyrical Taylor
(Worm/Nanoha)
by P.H. Wise
5.4 - Who By Fire?
Disclaimer: The following is a fanfic. Worm belongs to Wildbow. The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise is owned by various corporate entities. Please support the official release.
Thanks to @Cailin for beta-ing!
-----------------
The dog shelter was in an abandoned warehouse. It still had electricity, but it mostly just illuminated the kennel area in the middle, leaving pools of darkness around the edges. The sound of the rain on the roof echoed weirdly in the cavernous space, but it was dry and as safe as it got outside of a shelter in a city that was under attack by an Endbringer.
Bitch's dogs began to growl warningly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she caught a glimpse of a pair of golden eyes shining in the gloom beyond the lights. "Come out," she commanded.
A shape came out of the darkness, quickly resolving itself into a short woman with waist-length reddish hair, parted in the middle. She might have been 20 or so, a red gem was set into her forehead, and she had wolf ears and a tail the same red as her hair.
Bitch stared the woman in the eye, and the woman stared back. Neither looked away, and Bitch found her lip curling into a snarl. "Who are you?" she snapped.
"Arf," the woman replied without looking away. "Are you Bitch?"
Bitch nodded. "The fuck do you want?"
Arf broke eye contact, and Bitch shifted slightly in response. "I want your help," Arf said.
Bitch took in the woman's features, her ears and tail, the gem on her forehead, and she narrowed her eyes. The rain battered the roof, and a drop of water fell from the ceiling to land between them. "You're that wolf," she said.
"Yes," Arf answered.
"No."
"Why not?" Arf asked.
"Doesn't work on humans."
Arf smiled, but did not show her teeth. "You're wrong. I'm not a human that turns into a wolf."
Bitch looked uncommonly thoughtful. "Why should I help you?" she asked.
"My human is going to fight the monster that's putting you and your dogs in danger. We told her not to, but she's going. I'm going to help her. If you help me, I might survive it."
"Your master's doing something stupid, so you want to go die with her?" Bitch asked derisively.
"She's not my master," Arf snapped.
Bitch waited.
"We're friends," Arf finished in a gentler voice. "Will you help?"
Bitch thought about it.
Seven minutes later, as Arf left the shelter, the sky ignited in flames from horizon to horizon. The clouds evaporated and the rain stopped instantly.
Bitch watched from the window as a massive pillar of fire poured down onto something in the distance, drawing the light and heat of the sky down onto what she figured was probably the battle against Behemoth.
The light faded. And then a new rain began to fall on the waterlogged city: a rain of ash and embers.
Angelica whimpered, and Bitch scratched the dog's ears.
--------------
Fate and I stood with Myrddin before the Triumvirate in the smoldering ruin that used to be the field hospital. Behemoth had only just burrowed beneath the surface. Myrddin looked like hell. We all did, but he looked worse. His eyes were hollow, and tear-lines had smeared his soot-streaked face.
"Why would Behemoth target the aquifer?" I asked as I helped Amy to her feet.
Fate went very pale.
"Steam explosion, maybe," Myrddin suggested. His voice was ragged as all hell, and he sounded as tired as I felt. "He could wipe out everyone in the city in one shot."
I didn't ask if Amy was okay. She wasn't. None of us were. Her eyes kept going back to a spot on the footpath nearby, just outside what was left of Triage 3, where a nuclear shadow had been permanently burned into the concrete.
"Behemoth has never done something like that before," Legend said.
The black girl had stopped screaming; now she just lay there inside the oversized footprint Behemoth had left behind when he'd stepped on her, flattening the ground beneath her but somehow missing her; her whole body was being wracked by horrible, heaving sobs. I felt the urge to go to her, to try to comfort her somehow, but I didn't know where to start. A nurse rushed up to her after a moment, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"We've never done this much damage to him -- or any Endbringer -- before," Alexandria said.
"I know why," Fate said in a small voice.
Yuuno and Chrono arrived while the others were talking, and nobody looked up at them.
"He's been holding back," Eidolon said, speaking the words in disgust. "All this time, he's been holding back. Playing with us. We never had a chance, ever."
"We have a chance now," Alexandria argued.
"I know why he's going to the aquifer," Fate said.
"The plan was working," Alexandria said. "If we can draw him out, hit him with everything..."
"Hey," I said. "Listen!"
They ignored me.
"All of you, be silent!" Raising Heart yelled.
Eidolon, Legend, and Alexandria stopped talking and turned to stare at me. Fate, Chrono, and Yuuno, on the other hand, directed worried looks at Raising Heart. I felt the weight of those stares, and I wanted the earth to swallow me whole if only it would stop them looking at me like that, but I forced myself to go on. "Fate," I said, "What were you saying?"
All eyes turned to Fate. If she was nervous or uncomfortable being the center of attention, she didn't show it. "I know why that monster is going to the aquifer."
"Why?" Myrddin asked. It was more of a harsh croak than a proper word.
"That's where Mother hid the Garden of Time," Fate said.
"Right," Myrddin said. "Of fucking course it is."
Alexandria looked Fate in the eye. "Who is your mother, girl, and what is the Garden of Time?"
"Doctor Precia Testarossa," Chrono said. "Am I right?"
Fate nodded. "Yes."
"A brilliant scientist," Chrono explained. "One of the only SS Ranked mages on record. Graduated at the top of her class with a Doctorate in Mana Theory from Reginleif University in Midchilda North. Thirty six years ago, she was a rising star in her field. She disappeared after the mana reactor she had designed overloaded and went into meltdown, killing everyone within twenty kilometers of the facility, including her five year old daughter, Alicia. Suspected of working with the rogue scientist, Jail Scaglietti."
"Yes," Fate admitted.
"Were you her part of Project Fate?" Raising Heart asked.
Fate flinched. "... Yes," she said.
I started putting things together. Alicia Testarossa, killed at the age of five. Fate Testarossa, product of Project Fate. Had Precia resurrected her dead daughter? Was that even possible? If she had, why was Fate calling herself 'Fate?' I thought of the good people who had died today, and I didn't quite dare to hope.
"And the Garden of Time is...?" Alexandria asked impatiently.
"Our home," Fate said. "It used to be our home. A piece of Midchilda stolen and secreted away into Dimensional Space. Mother rebuilt it into a space station and powered it with an improved version of her mana reactor design. It was where she completed her part of Project Fate, and now it's coterminous with the aquifer beneath the city."
"Why is it called the Garden of Time?" Myrddin asked.
Fate's cheeks colored slightly. "Mother can be a bit dramatic."
"Ah," Myrddin said.
"Can you take us there?" I asked.
Fate nodded. "Yes," she said.
I looked to Amy. "Are you coming with us?" I asked.
She shuddered and didn't look away from the nuclear shadow on the path.
I hugged her. "It's okay," I murmured. Something occurred to me, then, and I wondered how I could have forgotten it. Vicky, cast aside like a broken doll. There was no emotional content to the memory. No shock, no horror, just a yawning emptiness and the distant promise of, 'Later.' "I think Vicky needs your help more than I do," I said. "She's hurt. It's bad."
That got a reaction. She looked up, and her eyes focused on me. "Where?" she asked.
I told her.
Amy launched herself into the sky, her barrier jacket forming around her in a flash of maroon light, and she flew away to find her sister.
"Chrono?" I asked.
"I'm with you," he said.
My eyes went to Yuuno. "Yuuno?" I asked.
Yuuno was trembling. His eyes were puffy and red from crying, and his face was smudged with tears and ashes. "I need to see this through," he said in a distant voice.
"Yuuno Scrya," Raising Heart said gently, "you don't have to."
Yuuno looked up. "I… yes I do," he said. "Yes I do. How could I stop fighting now? I…" A fresh flood of tears traced its way down his face, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I saw them burn. I was right there. I… I saved Crystal, but I couldn't save Eric or the others. They screamed when they died, and Crystal screamed when she lived. … maybe if I was stronger..."
Footsteps on the charred grass heralded Lisa's approach. She didn't look as bad as the rest of us, and she made a bee-line for Yuuno and gathered him into a hug. "You've done enough, Yuuno," she said.
"You were listening?" I asked.
She nodded. "We need to end this before Behemoth kills us all."
"Rest now, Yuuno Scrya," Raising Heart said. "We'll take it from here."
Yuuno nodded faintly. "... Okay," he said.
"Time to go," I said.
"Everyone who's coming to the Garden of Time, get close to me," Fate said, and Alexandria, Legend, Eidolon, Myrddin, Chrono and I moved to stand around her.
Fate's golden spell circle appeared beneath her feet, and the teleportation field rose up around us.
"Good luck," Lisa said.
I nodded.
"Dimensional Transfer," Bardiche said.
We disappeared.
--------------
We appeared in what I swear looked like a transporter room straight out of Star Trek. We were standing on the teleportation pad, and a woman with cat ears and a tail dressed in black and white with gold accents stood at the control panel. There was tension in her bearing, but she still smiled gently when she saw Fate. "Welcome home, Fate," she said.
"I'm back," Fate replied.
"Who are your friends?" the woman asked.
We all filed off the teleporter pad and I took in the surroundings. I was really expecting something a lot less science fiction in a hidden magical fortress. Torch light and stone corridors, not gleaming corridors, crystalline panels, and transporter rooms crewed by friendly cat-girls.
"Linith," Fate said, "These are Chrono, Alexandria, Legend, Myrddin, and Eidolon. We have to get to mother immediately; that Lost Logia is on its way."
Linith's eyes widened, and before she could answer, the deck shook beneath us, and the lights flickered.
"We don't have much time," Fate finished.
"Can't we teleport there?" Legend asked.
Fate shook her head. "The Garden is warded against teleportation except for a few specific points. We could break through, but it would take time we don't have. We have to move."
"Hang on," Myrddin said.
There was another distant explosion followed by a sound like a Tesla coil.
"Make it fast," Alexandria ordered.
"I've got something I've been working on for a couple years now," Myrddin said. "It's supposed to keep you alive inside Behemoth's kill radius. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing." He produced a handful of bracelets, which he tied over each of our wrists before muttering something in Latin. Really bad Latin. The bracelets gave off a silvery light for a second, and then seemed to return to normal. "Okay," he said, "Good for a few minutes at best. And still don't get too close. Bracelet heats up as he tries to kill you. When the bracelet breaks, you're probably dead."
Chrono examined his bracelet. "How does it work?" he asked.
"Magic," Myrddin replied.
"Right," Chrono said. "Is it a bounded field? A protective barrier? Something more exotic, like sympathetic magic?"
Myrddin looked annoyed. "It's technical. Do we really have time for this?"
"We don't," Alexandria said. "Let's move."
We headed out of the teleportation chamber and into the corridor beyond. A lot of it looked the same, with the only differences being the signs on the doors that we passed. 'Research module A,' one read. 'Research module B,' said the next, and I wondered exactly how many research modules there were.
"Mother is aware of the situation," Fate announced. "She's preparing our defenses. Behemoth just breached the secondary golem bay. The puppet soldiers are trying to hold him off, but..." she shook her head.
We rounded the corner at the end of the hall, and all at once the architecture drastically changed. We stepped from gleaming starship hall into an almost palatial foyer, all white and gold, with a patterned red rug over a marble floor, and twin staircases going up to a second level. Elaborate figures made in the image of a six legged animal I had never seen before stood to either side of the staircases. Straight ahead there was a stained glass door that shone blue from the light in the room beyond it.
A series of distant explosions went off, and the floor shook once again.
"This is the oldest part of the facility," Linith offered in explanation. "It was Precia and Alicia's home, before all this."
Fate guided us swiftly through the ornate corridors. It would take an army of servants to keep this place in order, but we didn't see anyone else.
"I think we should talk about using the Jewel Seeds," I said, and just like that, all the air seemed to get sucked out of the corridor.
Myrddin was the first one to speak after I dropped that bomb. "That's a bad idea," he said.
"Is it?" I asked. "We know what they do, we basically know how they work. I have fifteen of them, and Fate has..."
"Six," Fate said.
I snapped my head around to look at her. Six? That meant... that meant we had all of them between us, didn't it? "Six," I echoed. "We know they grant wishes. Well I sure as hell wish Behemoth was dead, and I wish all those people he killed were still alive."
Eidolon and Alexandria exchanged looks.
"Starfall," Legend said, "You saw what happened when even two of them went out of control. You know that even one could potentially destroy the world. You can't possibly want to risk that."
"But it doesn't have to," I argued. "We've seen plenty of relatively harmless wishes, and the world is still here."
"It's too dangerous to use them against Behemoth," Chrono said. "That kind of power has a price. I've seen it before. The Idea Seed, the Book of Darkness..." He shook his head. "Undeniably extremely dangerous, undeniably useful enough that someone always thinks it's worth the risk. It isn't. Believe when I say I'm speaking from personal experience."
"I believe in you, my Master," Raising Heart said. "If you think you can handle them, I will do my best to help you succeed."
I smiled, and Raising Heart's gem glowed.
"No," Alexandria said. "We aren't using them."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration, and I really missed the pressure of my glasses there. "Well, what if we just use them to give you, Myrddin, Legend, and Eidolon Second Triggers? That should only take four Jewel Seeds, right? It would be way safer than trying to use them all, and it would go a long way toward evening the odds. We can see about raising the dead when this is all over."
Chrono sighed. "Sankt Kaiser save us from overpowered teenagers," he muttered.
"It's still a bad idea," Legend said at the same time that Eidolon held up a hand and said, "Maybe there's something to that suggestion."
We went through the stained glass door and into the central chamber as we argued. A few meters away from the door, a balcony overlooked a huge central chamber that ran a kilometer at least in both directions, and easily big enough to fit an entire army a dozen times over.
Holy shit.
Myrddin looked at Eidolon in askance. "Well, looks like we're taking an unscheduled trip on the crazy train," he said.
"Alex, you and Legend know what's at stake," Eidolon said. "If she can unlock my..."
Alexandria cut him off. "No," she said. "Even if we fall here, even if all of us die, there is still a path to victory, and it doesn't involve using the Jewel Seeds."
Eidolon sighed and lowered his hand.
"Whatever," I muttered.
We flew down the central chamber to the bottom, where four of those artillery robots were waiting. Ahead of us was a long curiously rounded crystalline corridor leading up to a massively oversized set of double doors. Behind us, another corridor of similar size that disappeared into the distance. It was full of Leviathan-sized robot soldiers in both directions, and in the distance, coming from the corridor behind us, I could hear Behemoth's approach.
The massive double doors opened as we drew near, revealing a similarly oversized throne room. This was more like what I was expecting from a sorceress's evil lair. She sat on the throne looking every bit as beautiful and cruel and terrifying as she had been the last time I'd seen her: Precia Testarossa.
She looked like she belonged on that throne, and when she spoke, her voice carried effortlessly through the room. Her voice was a low alto, and it carried the exact same sort of absolute authority that Alexandria conveyed in hers. "Welcome, honored guests from the Protectorate," she said. "Welcome, Ms. Ságebrecht. Welcome, Enforcer Harlaown." A massive purple spell circle spanned the length of the room, and I could feel more mana than I had ever used in my life gathering within it, and I stared. Then she smiled gently at Fate. "Welcome home, Alicia," she said in a much warmer tone.
"We can come back later if this is a bad time," Myrddin said, and it was nice to hear him snarking again, even if he definitely wasn't fine.
Precia's lips curled upwards in amusement. "No, I'm delighted to host you," she said. "But pardon me if I don't stand. I'm preparing a welcome for my other uninvited guest."
Inside my strategic planning partition, Lisa and I put it together: the long corridor with its curiously circular shape...
[It's a gun barrel,] Lisa said. [It's a gun barrel, and she's the gun. And she's gathering enough power to shatter a continental plate.]
"Holy shit," I said aloud.
All eyes went to me, and I shunted my embarrassment into my sixth mental partition - the one I pretty much was just using to hold my emotions. The me in that one was having a breakdown. The rest of me kept going. "How can we help?" I asked.
"Delay him until the spell is ready," Precia said. "Then get out of the way."
I nodded.
[I don't know if it still holds true,] Lisa said, [But Behemoth can still redirect energy. You'll need to hit him with at least two different forms of attack if you want this to work.]
I explained what was happening to the others, and both Legend and Alexandria looked to Eidolon. Eidolon nodded. "I'll start my own preparations. I have a particular combination of powers I've always wanted to try..."
"The rest of us are the last line of defense," I said. "When the golems fall, we don't let Behemoth past until Precia is ready to fire. And Myrddin, do you have another one of those bracelets for Precia?"
Myrddin nodded. "I'm on it," he said.
Behemoth appeared in the distance, crushing a pair of sword-and-shield wielding robots and sprinting onward down the corridor like hadn't even been there. The host of Precia's robot soldiers stood between him and us. We weren't remotely ready, I was too tired to call up my spell swarm, and I had no idea if we could take him, but we were sure as hell going to try.
For all their size, the robots were barely speed bumps for the Endbringer. Behemoth raced down the long rounded corridor with a great, bounding stride that gave lie to every slow, ponderous showing he had ever made. He was still an emaciated, skeletal version of himself, his core cracked and something molten dripping down onto his body in either side. He hadn't regenerated, he was still armless, and as he came on, he showed an almost shocking variety of ways to kill and destroy. The artillery robots exploded without ever getting a chance to fire, just erupting into massive fireballs that melted them into slag. The flying ranged attackers Behemoth allowed to fire on him, stole the energy of their attacks, and then blasted holes through a dozen of the sword and shield robots with the energy. He let loose with his beam of nuclear light, and he sliced and diced the flyers in a frenzy of destruction; a purple barrier sprang up between us and Behemoth, and the stray blasts from his breath laser splashed against it without penetrating. "Divine Buster!" I said, and Raising Heart and I fired off our first blast. I was echoed by Fate's shout of, "Thunder Smasher!"
Behemoth took the energy of both of our attacks and formed it into a shield to block Legend's subsequent salvo of blue-white lasers. Then Chrono sent a host of blue glowing daggers flying at the Endbringer, and there was enough residual energy from my shot to deflect those as well.
Then Chrono nodded to me and began his aria. An icy spell circle pulsed beneath his feet as he spoke: "Permafrost, construct a frozen coffin and deliver eternal sleep unto this beast."
We needed to time this exactly. Chrono raised Durandal.
[Now!] Lisa said.
Legend, Myrddin, Fate and I all opened fire, me with a Divine Buster, Fate with her Plasma Smasher, Legend with a huge blast of blue-white light, Myrddin with a blast of pure, kinetic force.
"Eternal Coffin!" Durandal said as Behemoth blocked my attack, and Legend's, and Myrddin's.
Behemoth staggered. He tried to continue his loping sprint toward us, but his feet would not support him. He fell, and an icy blue light crackled across his skeletal form. Frost formed across his flesh, across his core, and as the spell sealed him, I let out an elated shout.
Then something molten oozed through the frost around Behemoth's core, and I got that horrible, sinking feeling.
The supposedly Eternal Coffin held Behemoth for a little more than a minute, and we gave it to him: every second we delayed him was another second for Precia and Eidolon to charge their attacks.
Alexandria was on him the second he began to move again, punching in the core as hard as she could. Behemoth howled in pain, reared back, and things got worse.
The Garden of Time was warded against teleportation. Apparently, no one sent Behemoth the memo; he made a slashing motion with his hand as Alexandria came in for a follow-up. She punched him, and he redirected the kinetic energy of her blow right back into her.
Alexandria tumbled into the portal that Behemoth had just opened and was gone; through that portal I could see the light of the Dimensional Sea.
Linith exchanged glances with Fate, and then flew into the portal after Alexandria, making it through just before it snapped closed.
We all fired another salvo at Behemoth, and again he repurposed our attacks, using them to charge his nuclear laser. He fired it off directly at Legend, who shifted himself into his breaker state when he saw that Behemoth was about to fire, converting himself into a glowing figure made of pure light.
Legend's body immediately exploded into a spray of light that seared into the walls of the corridor… and into Chrono, who had been standing next to him. Chrono cried out in agony and collapsed, and smoke rose from his fallen form.
The bracelet Myrddin had given me grew warm. Behemoth was trying to kill me, but Myrddin's protection was holding for now.
Both Fate and I fired again. We knew it wasn't going to do any damage, but that wasn't the point: the point was to delay him.
This time, Behemoth took in the energy we gave him with our attack, shaped it into a salvo of a dozen fiery darts, and fired them all off right into Fate's body. "Defenser," Bardiche said, and her shield sprang into existence in front of her.
The darts ripped through the shield like it was made of tissue. Fate's barrier jacket broke after the first six hits, and her emergency Jacket Purge took care of another five. The last dart buried itself in her stomach. Fate let out a pained gasp, clutched at the dart, and then yelped as it burned her fingers.
"Fate!" I cried as I rushed toward her. Precia stiffened. "Alicia!" she screamed, but she didn't let go of her spell.
Even flying, I wasn't going to make it in time. Behemoth was bearing down on her. The fiery dart lingered, sizzling against her flesh, and she staggered.
Then a huge lupine shape barreled into Behemoth from behind with an angry snarl, knocking the Endbringer clear of Fate and into the barrier Precia had set up in the open doorway that led into her throne room. The barrier crackled loudly as Behemoth slid down it and came unsteadily up to his feet.
The creature that had attacked Behemoth was what a wolf might have looked like if it had come straight from hell; it was a weirdly symmetrical creature covered in bony plates, spikes, exposed muscles, and calcified flesh; its eyes glowed a brilliant blue, there was a large red crystal set into its forehead, and as it regarded Behemoth, it snarled in a very angry woman's voice, "Get away from my friend, you son of a bitch."
A pressure wave flowed out from the throne room, and with it came Precia's voice: "Move."
Instead of altering my course, I kept right on going: I grabbed Fate and pulled her up into my arms and flew out of the way of the blast; the hell-wolf -- Arf -- nearly lunged back after Behemoth, but Fate called out, "Arf!" and Arf turned and followed with less than a second to spare.
Eidolon and Precia fired, and Behemoth seemed to vanish before the onslaught of twin cataclysmic beams of energy, one purple, the other a scintillating silver, and the whole world seemed consumed in the sound and fury of their unleashed power.
When the light faded, Behemoth was still there; the Endbringer had been literally scoured to the bone, no longer skeletal but simply a bloody skeleton. And he was still alive. Hanging above his outstretched hand was a massive sphere of the energy he'd managed to collect from the twin attacks before it had overcome him.
It pulsed once, and then twin beams erupted outward as the sphere emptied itself into two separate attacks. One burned through the floor at a downward angle and was followed by an explosion that threw Eidolon off his feet and Precia out of her throne. The whole space station rocked violently, and a hissing sound began, soft but utterly distinct.
The second, smaller beam caught Eidolon in mid-fall, and his body exploded. Parts went everywhere. Viscera, blood, the smell was indescribably foul, and shards of his bones went flying into Precia. They caught on her barrier jacket, but the kinetic force was still enough to send her tumbling.
Eidolon's shoulders and head landed near Precia's throne, and I was certain he was dead; but a determined look came upon his face. His head detached from his neck and shoulders, sprouting a dozen fleshy tendrils that quickly shaped themselves into finger-like legs, and it skittered away like something out of a nightmare.
Precia rose to her feet, staring at the still-living Endbringer skeleton in disbelief. "Sankt Kaiser," she muttered, "He's destroyed the mana reactor."
I could feel it, then: residual mana. Residual mana from this fight, from the earlier battle, from the wreckage of the mana reactor. Behemoth was gathering it with his dynakinesis, and I knew that if I let him, we were all dead. After the fight with Fate and flying straight home to deal with the riots that lead right into the Endbringer attack, I was too exhausted -- too depleted -- to cast even the smallest spell; I was not too depleted to gather in residual mana for a Starlight Breaker.
In the hallway, fragments of blue-white light began to gather slowly back together.
I set Fate down, opened my hands, and began to fight the Endbringer for control of the mana; motes of iridescent light rose from every surface, rivers of it flowed through the air, and I could feel Behemoth tugging at it, pulling it away, and I pulled back all the harder. Some of it was going to him, but much, much more was coming to me.
Behemoth objected to that. He unleashed a torrent of flame, and the air grew unbearably hot, and I knew that if I let my concentration break even to form a shield with the mana I was collecting, I would lose my hold of it.
Myrddin stepped in the way, holding a shimmering white barrier between me and the torrent of fire with both hands outstretched. His hands began to smoke, and still he held the shield, and still the flame poured out at him. Blisters opened up across his flesh, and he grit his teeth against the pain. Then his skin began to blacken as the burns grew worse, and worse, and worse, and he screamed in agony, but he did not drop the shield.
When the torrent of flame had finally expended itself, Myrddin's hands had been charred all the way to the bone, with horrific burns tracing their way up to his elbows. He staggered drunkenly, laughing out loud with a disturbing giddiness as he sank to his knees.
Behemoth pressed forward, and the crack spread just a little further across his mangled core.
[Hold on, Taylor,] Lisa urged me. [You're almost there. Just a little more and you'll be able to overwhelm him. He's crippled, and he's never been more vulnerable than he is now.]
Arf rammed into Behemoth at a full sprint, and he reflected the kinetic energy back into her, sending her tumbling; she righted herself in mid-air, spun about to face him, and fired a blast of orange light from her mouth. Behemoth gathered it into his hand and shot it back at her in the form of orange lightning; a Barrier sprang into being in front of Arf and deflected it, and she let loose with a dozen chains of energy that wrapped themselves around his bones and briefly halted his advance.
Arf's body began to smoke, and flames leaped within her flesh, and still she came on, tearing Behemoth with her teeth, slashing with her claws, ripping into him with her bony spurs and blasting him whenever she could, and Behemoth knocked her away again and again. The fires inside of her burned ever brighter; her back legs fell off and burned to ash, and she still crawled forward to bite him.
At last, the massive bulk of the hell-wolf Arf had become was reduced to a charred lump, and then the Endbringer turned to me and opened his mouth.
That was the only warning; the nuclear laser came instantly, blasting into me and shattering my Barrier Jacket.
"Jacket Purge," Raising Heart said, and the energy of my Barrier Jacket detonated violently, briefly forming into a shield that deflected the beam even as the concussive blast flung me clear of the danger zone.
Behemoth trundled forward. His right foot broke off when he put his weight on it, and he staggered, but still he came.
[A few more seconds, Taylor,] Lisa said. [Just a few more seconds.]
I raised my arm, the energy I had gathered shining above me in a massive pool of power that Behemoth was still trying to steal. "Starlight…" I said, empowered the equations, forcing the mana into place in the face of Behemoth doing his best to drain away that same power.
Behemoth's core cracked just a little bit more, and he charged madly forward. The charm bracelet Myrddin gave me began to smoke and grew painfully hot against my skin.
Behemoth brought back his fist, and then swept forward in a punch that I knew would end my life.
Raising Heart interposed herself. "Protection, Full Charge!" she announced, and emptied all four of my remaining mana cartridges into a spell that I didn't have any power left to fuel, and it was only then that my exhausted mind realized that I'd still had the four cartridges.
Behemoth's fist struck the shimmering iridescent barrier, and the barrier held. "I won't let you hurt my Master!" she said, and then corrected herself: "... No, I won't let you hurt my FRIEND!"
[Fire!] Lisa shouted into my thoughts. [You can do it, Taylor! Fire! Don't let go! Just fire the attack!]
My vision swam, and I forced myself through it, forced the mana into place. "Br… break…"
Raising Heart's shield fell as it ran out of mana, and Behemoth's fist shattered her. Then he reached into the extra-dimensional space that contained her real hardware, and ripped something out in a spray of red crystal shards and mechanical parts.
Inside my strategic planning partition, Lisa's eyes went wide. [Taylor, hold on!] Then her image shattered, and weird echoes of her words rolled through my mind.
I screamed. My extended mind, interconnected with Raising Heart's processes, shattered, collapsing down to a single mental partition and pouring all my misery and pain down with it. I could feel Raising Heart fading, and though they sliced through my thoughts like glass, I frantically reached through the shards of broken consciousness, trying to hold on to her. [Don't go!] I begged.
Somewhere, I could hear the distant, fading echo of her voice calling my name: [Tay...lor…]
Silence. Behemoth loomed above me. Desperately I kept reaching out, howling out my soul as my tears boiled away on my cheeks.
Something reached back.
(Worm/Nanoha)
by P.H. Wise
5.4 - Who By Fire?
Disclaimer: The following is a fanfic. Worm belongs to Wildbow. The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise is owned by various corporate entities. Please support the official release.
Thanks to @Cailin for beta-ing!
-----------------
The dog shelter was in an abandoned warehouse. It still had electricity, but it mostly just illuminated the kennel area in the middle, leaving pools of darkness around the edges. The sound of the rain on the roof echoed weirdly in the cavernous space, but it was dry and as safe as it got outside of a shelter in a city that was under attack by an Endbringer.
Bitch's dogs began to growl warningly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she caught a glimpse of a pair of golden eyes shining in the gloom beyond the lights. "Come out," she commanded.
A shape came out of the darkness, quickly resolving itself into a short woman with waist-length reddish hair, parted in the middle. She might have been 20 or so, a red gem was set into her forehead, and she had wolf ears and a tail the same red as her hair.
Bitch stared the woman in the eye, and the woman stared back. Neither looked away, and Bitch found her lip curling into a snarl. "Who are you?" she snapped.
"Arf," the woman replied without looking away. "Are you Bitch?"
Bitch nodded. "The fuck do you want?"
Arf broke eye contact, and Bitch shifted slightly in response. "I want your help," Arf said.
Bitch took in the woman's features, her ears and tail, the gem on her forehead, and she narrowed her eyes. The rain battered the roof, and a drop of water fell from the ceiling to land between them. "You're that wolf," she said.
"Yes," Arf answered.
"No."
"Why not?" Arf asked.
"Doesn't work on humans."
Arf smiled, but did not show her teeth. "You're wrong. I'm not a human that turns into a wolf."
Bitch looked uncommonly thoughtful. "Why should I help you?" she asked.
"My human is going to fight the monster that's putting you and your dogs in danger. We told her not to, but she's going. I'm going to help her. If you help me, I might survive it."
"Your master's doing something stupid, so you want to go die with her?" Bitch asked derisively.
"She's not my master," Arf snapped.
Bitch waited.
"We're friends," Arf finished in a gentler voice. "Will you help?"
Bitch thought about it.
Seven minutes later, as Arf left the shelter, the sky ignited in flames from horizon to horizon. The clouds evaporated and the rain stopped instantly.
Bitch watched from the window as a massive pillar of fire poured down onto something in the distance, drawing the light and heat of the sky down onto what she figured was probably the battle against Behemoth.
The light faded. And then a new rain began to fall on the waterlogged city: a rain of ash and embers.
Angelica whimpered, and Bitch scratched the dog's ears.
--------------
Fate and I stood with Myrddin before the Triumvirate in the smoldering ruin that used to be the field hospital. Behemoth had only just burrowed beneath the surface. Myrddin looked like hell. We all did, but he looked worse. His eyes were hollow, and tear-lines had smeared his soot-streaked face.
"Why would Behemoth target the aquifer?" I asked as I helped Amy to her feet.
Fate went very pale.
"Steam explosion, maybe," Myrddin suggested. His voice was ragged as all hell, and he sounded as tired as I felt. "He could wipe out everyone in the city in one shot."
I didn't ask if Amy was okay. She wasn't. None of us were. Her eyes kept going back to a spot on the footpath nearby, just outside what was left of Triage 3, where a nuclear shadow had been permanently burned into the concrete.
"Behemoth has never done something like that before," Legend said.
The black girl had stopped screaming; now she just lay there inside the oversized footprint Behemoth had left behind when he'd stepped on her, flattening the ground beneath her but somehow missing her; her whole body was being wracked by horrible, heaving sobs. I felt the urge to go to her, to try to comfort her somehow, but I didn't know where to start. A nurse rushed up to her after a moment, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"We've never done this much damage to him -- or any Endbringer -- before," Alexandria said.
"I know why," Fate said in a small voice.
Yuuno and Chrono arrived while the others were talking, and nobody looked up at them.
"He's been holding back," Eidolon said, speaking the words in disgust. "All this time, he's been holding back. Playing with us. We never had a chance, ever."
"We have a chance now," Alexandria argued.
"I know why he's going to the aquifer," Fate said.
"The plan was working," Alexandria said. "If we can draw him out, hit him with everything..."
"Hey," I said. "Listen!"
They ignored me.
"All of you, be silent!" Raising Heart yelled.
Eidolon, Legend, and Alexandria stopped talking and turned to stare at me. Fate, Chrono, and Yuuno, on the other hand, directed worried looks at Raising Heart. I felt the weight of those stares, and I wanted the earth to swallow me whole if only it would stop them looking at me like that, but I forced myself to go on. "Fate," I said, "What were you saying?"
All eyes turned to Fate. If she was nervous or uncomfortable being the center of attention, she didn't show it. "I know why that monster is going to the aquifer."
"Why?" Myrddin asked. It was more of a harsh croak than a proper word.
"That's where Mother hid the Garden of Time," Fate said.
"Right," Myrddin said. "Of fucking course it is."
Alexandria looked Fate in the eye. "Who is your mother, girl, and what is the Garden of Time?"
"Doctor Precia Testarossa," Chrono said. "Am I right?"
Fate nodded. "Yes."
"A brilliant scientist," Chrono explained. "One of the only SS Ranked mages on record. Graduated at the top of her class with a Doctorate in Mana Theory from Reginleif University in Midchilda North. Thirty six years ago, she was a rising star in her field. She disappeared after the mana reactor she had designed overloaded and went into meltdown, killing everyone within twenty kilometers of the facility, including her five year old daughter, Alicia. Suspected of working with the rogue scientist, Jail Scaglietti."
"Yes," Fate admitted.
"Were you her part of Project Fate?" Raising Heart asked.
Fate flinched. "... Yes," she said.
I started putting things together. Alicia Testarossa, killed at the age of five. Fate Testarossa, product of Project Fate. Had Precia resurrected her dead daughter? Was that even possible? If she had, why was Fate calling herself 'Fate?' I thought of the good people who had died today, and I didn't quite dare to hope.
"And the Garden of Time is...?" Alexandria asked impatiently.
"Our home," Fate said. "It used to be our home. A piece of Midchilda stolen and secreted away into Dimensional Space. Mother rebuilt it into a space station and powered it with an improved version of her mana reactor design. It was where she completed her part of Project Fate, and now it's coterminous with the aquifer beneath the city."
"Why is it called the Garden of Time?" Myrddin asked.
Fate's cheeks colored slightly. "Mother can be a bit dramatic."
"Ah," Myrddin said.
"Can you take us there?" I asked.
Fate nodded. "Yes," she said.
I looked to Amy. "Are you coming with us?" I asked.
She shuddered and didn't look away from the nuclear shadow on the path.
I hugged her. "It's okay," I murmured. Something occurred to me, then, and I wondered how I could have forgotten it. Vicky, cast aside like a broken doll. There was no emotional content to the memory. No shock, no horror, just a yawning emptiness and the distant promise of, 'Later.' "I think Vicky needs your help more than I do," I said. "She's hurt. It's bad."
That got a reaction. She looked up, and her eyes focused on me. "Where?" she asked.
I told her.
Amy launched herself into the sky, her barrier jacket forming around her in a flash of maroon light, and she flew away to find her sister.
"Chrono?" I asked.
"I'm with you," he said.
My eyes went to Yuuno. "Yuuno?" I asked.
Yuuno was trembling. His eyes were puffy and red from crying, and his face was smudged with tears and ashes. "I need to see this through," he said in a distant voice.
"Yuuno Scrya," Raising Heart said gently, "you don't have to."
Yuuno looked up. "I… yes I do," he said. "Yes I do. How could I stop fighting now? I…" A fresh flood of tears traced its way down his face, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I saw them burn. I was right there. I… I saved Crystal, but I couldn't save Eric or the others. They screamed when they died, and Crystal screamed when she lived. … maybe if I was stronger..."
Footsteps on the charred grass heralded Lisa's approach. She didn't look as bad as the rest of us, and she made a bee-line for Yuuno and gathered him into a hug. "You've done enough, Yuuno," she said.
"You were listening?" I asked.
She nodded. "We need to end this before Behemoth kills us all."
"Rest now, Yuuno Scrya," Raising Heart said. "We'll take it from here."
Yuuno nodded faintly. "... Okay," he said.
"Time to go," I said.
"Everyone who's coming to the Garden of Time, get close to me," Fate said, and Alexandria, Legend, Eidolon, Myrddin, Chrono and I moved to stand around her.
Fate's golden spell circle appeared beneath her feet, and the teleportation field rose up around us.
"Good luck," Lisa said.
I nodded.
"Dimensional Transfer," Bardiche said.
We disappeared.
--------------
We appeared in what I swear looked like a transporter room straight out of Star Trek. We were standing on the teleportation pad, and a woman with cat ears and a tail dressed in black and white with gold accents stood at the control panel. There was tension in her bearing, but she still smiled gently when she saw Fate. "Welcome home, Fate," she said.
"I'm back," Fate replied.
"Who are your friends?" the woman asked.
We all filed off the teleporter pad and I took in the surroundings. I was really expecting something a lot less science fiction in a hidden magical fortress. Torch light and stone corridors, not gleaming corridors, crystalline panels, and transporter rooms crewed by friendly cat-girls.
"Linith," Fate said, "These are Chrono, Alexandria, Legend, Myrddin, and Eidolon. We have to get to mother immediately; that Lost Logia is on its way."
Linith's eyes widened, and before she could answer, the deck shook beneath us, and the lights flickered.
"We don't have much time," Fate finished.
"Can't we teleport there?" Legend asked.
Fate shook her head. "The Garden is warded against teleportation except for a few specific points. We could break through, but it would take time we don't have. We have to move."
"Hang on," Myrddin said.
There was another distant explosion followed by a sound like a Tesla coil.
"Make it fast," Alexandria ordered.
"I've got something I've been working on for a couple years now," Myrddin said. "It's supposed to keep you alive inside Behemoth's kill radius. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing." He produced a handful of bracelets, which he tied over each of our wrists before muttering something in Latin. Really bad Latin. The bracelets gave off a silvery light for a second, and then seemed to return to normal. "Okay," he said, "Good for a few minutes at best. And still don't get too close. Bracelet heats up as he tries to kill you. When the bracelet breaks, you're probably dead."
Chrono examined his bracelet. "How does it work?" he asked.
"Magic," Myrddin replied.
"Right," Chrono said. "Is it a bounded field? A protective barrier? Something more exotic, like sympathetic magic?"
Myrddin looked annoyed. "It's technical. Do we really have time for this?"
"We don't," Alexandria said. "Let's move."
We headed out of the teleportation chamber and into the corridor beyond. A lot of it looked the same, with the only differences being the signs on the doors that we passed. 'Research module A,' one read. 'Research module B,' said the next, and I wondered exactly how many research modules there were.
"Mother is aware of the situation," Fate announced. "She's preparing our defenses. Behemoth just breached the secondary golem bay. The puppet soldiers are trying to hold him off, but..." she shook her head.
We rounded the corner at the end of the hall, and all at once the architecture drastically changed. We stepped from gleaming starship hall into an almost palatial foyer, all white and gold, with a patterned red rug over a marble floor, and twin staircases going up to a second level. Elaborate figures made in the image of a six legged animal I had never seen before stood to either side of the staircases. Straight ahead there was a stained glass door that shone blue from the light in the room beyond it.
A series of distant explosions went off, and the floor shook once again.
"This is the oldest part of the facility," Linith offered in explanation. "It was Precia and Alicia's home, before all this."
Fate guided us swiftly through the ornate corridors. It would take an army of servants to keep this place in order, but we didn't see anyone else.
"I think we should talk about using the Jewel Seeds," I said, and just like that, all the air seemed to get sucked out of the corridor.
Myrddin was the first one to speak after I dropped that bomb. "That's a bad idea," he said.
"Is it?" I asked. "We know what they do, we basically know how they work. I have fifteen of them, and Fate has..."
"Six," Fate said.
I snapped my head around to look at her. Six? That meant... that meant we had all of them between us, didn't it? "Six," I echoed. "We know they grant wishes. Well I sure as hell wish Behemoth was dead, and I wish all those people he killed were still alive."
Eidolon and Alexandria exchanged looks.
"Starfall," Legend said, "You saw what happened when even two of them went out of control. You know that even one could potentially destroy the world. You can't possibly want to risk that."
"But it doesn't have to," I argued. "We've seen plenty of relatively harmless wishes, and the world is still here."
"It's too dangerous to use them against Behemoth," Chrono said. "That kind of power has a price. I've seen it before. The Idea Seed, the Book of Darkness..." He shook his head. "Undeniably extremely dangerous, undeniably useful enough that someone always thinks it's worth the risk. It isn't. Believe when I say I'm speaking from personal experience."
"I believe in you, my Master," Raising Heart said. "If you think you can handle them, I will do my best to help you succeed."
I smiled, and Raising Heart's gem glowed.
"No," Alexandria said. "We aren't using them."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration, and I really missed the pressure of my glasses there. "Well, what if we just use them to give you, Myrddin, Legend, and Eidolon Second Triggers? That should only take four Jewel Seeds, right? It would be way safer than trying to use them all, and it would go a long way toward evening the odds. We can see about raising the dead when this is all over."
Chrono sighed. "Sankt Kaiser save us from overpowered teenagers," he muttered.
"It's still a bad idea," Legend said at the same time that Eidolon held up a hand and said, "Maybe there's something to that suggestion."
We went through the stained glass door and into the central chamber as we argued. A few meters away from the door, a balcony overlooked a huge central chamber that ran a kilometer at least in both directions, and easily big enough to fit an entire army a dozen times over.
Holy shit.
Myrddin looked at Eidolon in askance. "Well, looks like we're taking an unscheduled trip on the crazy train," he said.
"Alex, you and Legend know what's at stake," Eidolon said. "If she can unlock my..."
Alexandria cut him off. "No," she said. "Even if we fall here, even if all of us die, there is still a path to victory, and it doesn't involve using the Jewel Seeds."
Eidolon sighed and lowered his hand.
"Whatever," I muttered.
We flew down the central chamber to the bottom, where four of those artillery robots were waiting. Ahead of us was a long curiously rounded crystalline corridor leading up to a massively oversized set of double doors. Behind us, another corridor of similar size that disappeared into the distance. It was full of Leviathan-sized robot soldiers in both directions, and in the distance, coming from the corridor behind us, I could hear Behemoth's approach.
The massive double doors opened as we drew near, revealing a similarly oversized throne room. This was more like what I was expecting from a sorceress's evil lair. She sat on the throne looking every bit as beautiful and cruel and terrifying as she had been the last time I'd seen her: Precia Testarossa.
She looked like she belonged on that throne, and when she spoke, her voice carried effortlessly through the room. Her voice was a low alto, and it carried the exact same sort of absolute authority that Alexandria conveyed in hers. "Welcome, honored guests from the Protectorate," she said. "Welcome, Ms. Ságebrecht. Welcome, Enforcer Harlaown." A massive purple spell circle spanned the length of the room, and I could feel more mana than I had ever used in my life gathering within it, and I stared. Then she smiled gently at Fate. "Welcome home, Alicia," she said in a much warmer tone.
"We can come back later if this is a bad time," Myrddin said, and it was nice to hear him snarking again, even if he definitely wasn't fine.
Precia's lips curled upwards in amusement. "No, I'm delighted to host you," she said. "But pardon me if I don't stand. I'm preparing a welcome for my other uninvited guest."
Inside my strategic planning partition, Lisa and I put it together: the long corridor with its curiously circular shape...
[It's a gun barrel,] Lisa said. [It's a gun barrel, and she's the gun. And she's gathering enough power to shatter a continental plate.]
"Holy shit," I said aloud.
All eyes went to me, and I shunted my embarrassment into my sixth mental partition - the one I pretty much was just using to hold my emotions. The me in that one was having a breakdown. The rest of me kept going. "How can we help?" I asked.
"Delay him until the spell is ready," Precia said. "Then get out of the way."
I nodded.
[I don't know if it still holds true,] Lisa said, [But Behemoth can still redirect energy. You'll need to hit him with at least two different forms of attack if you want this to work.]
I explained what was happening to the others, and both Legend and Alexandria looked to Eidolon. Eidolon nodded. "I'll start my own preparations. I have a particular combination of powers I've always wanted to try..."
"The rest of us are the last line of defense," I said. "When the golems fall, we don't let Behemoth past until Precia is ready to fire. And Myrddin, do you have another one of those bracelets for Precia?"
Myrddin nodded. "I'm on it," he said.
Behemoth appeared in the distance, crushing a pair of sword-and-shield wielding robots and sprinting onward down the corridor like hadn't even been there. The host of Precia's robot soldiers stood between him and us. We weren't remotely ready, I was too tired to call up my spell swarm, and I had no idea if we could take him, but we were sure as hell going to try.
For all their size, the robots were barely speed bumps for the Endbringer. Behemoth raced down the long rounded corridor with a great, bounding stride that gave lie to every slow, ponderous showing he had ever made. He was still an emaciated, skeletal version of himself, his core cracked and something molten dripping down onto his body in either side. He hadn't regenerated, he was still armless, and as he came on, he showed an almost shocking variety of ways to kill and destroy. The artillery robots exploded without ever getting a chance to fire, just erupting into massive fireballs that melted them into slag. The flying ranged attackers Behemoth allowed to fire on him, stole the energy of their attacks, and then blasted holes through a dozen of the sword and shield robots with the energy. He let loose with his beam of nuclear light, and he sliced and diced the flyers in a frenzy of destruction; a purple barrier sprang up between us and Behemoth, and the stray blasts from his breath laser splashed against it without penetrating. "Divine Buster!" I said, and Raising Heart and I fired off our first blast. I was echoed by Fate's shout of, "Thunder Smasher!"
Behemoth took the energy of both of our attacks and formed it into a shield to block Legend's subsequent salvo of blue-white lasers. Then Chrono sent a host of blue glowing daggers flying at the Endbringer, and there was enough residual energy from my shot to deflect those as well.
Then Chrono nodded to me and began his aria. An icy spell circle pulsed beneath his feet as he spoke: "Permafrost, construct a frozen coffin and deliver eternal sleep unto this beast."
We needed to time this exactly. Chrono raised Durandal.
[Now!] Lisa said.
Legend, Myrddin, Fate and I all opened fire, me with a Divine Buster, Fate with her Plasma Smasher, Legend with a huge blast of blue-white light, Myrddin with a blast of pure, kinetic force.
"Eternal Coffin!" Durandal said as Behemoth blocked my attack, and Legend's, and Myrddin's.
Behemoth staggered. He tried to continue his loping sprint toward us, but his feet would not support him. He fell, and an icy blue light crackled across his skeletal form. Frost formed across his flesh, across his core, and as the spell sealed him, I let out an elated shout.
Then something molten oozed through the frost around Behemoth's core, and I got that horrible, sinking feeling.
The supposedly Eternal Coffin held Behemoth for a little more than a minute, and we gave it to him: every second we delayed him was another second for Precia and Eidolon to charge their attacks.
Alexandria was on him the second he began to move again, punching in the core as hard as she could. Behemoth howled in pain, reared back, and things got worse.
The Garden of Time was warded against teleportation. Apparently, no one sent Behemoth the memo; he made a slashing motion with his hand as Alexandria came in for a follow-up. She punched him, and he redirected the kinetic energy of her blow right back into her.
Alexandria tumbled into the portal that Behemoth had just opened and was gone; through that portal I could see the light of the Dimensional Sea.
Linith exchanged glances with Fate, and then flew into the portal after Alexandria, making it through just before it snapped closed.
We all fired another salvo at Behemoth, and again he repurposed our attacks, using them to charge his nuclear laser. He fired it off directly at Legend, who shifted himself into his breaker state when he saw that Behemoth was about to fire, converting himself into a glowing figure made of pure light.
Legend's body immediately exploded into a spray of light that seared into the walls of the corridor… and into Chrono, who had been standing next to him. Chrono cried out in agony and collapsed, and smoke rose from his fallen form.
The bracelet Myrddin had given me grew warm. Behemoth was trying to kill me, but Myrddin's protection was holding for now.
Both Fate and I fired again. We knew it wasn't going to do any damage, but that wasn't the point: the point was to delay him.
This time, Behemoth took in the energy we gave him with our attack, shaped it into a salvo of a dozen fiery darts, and fired them all off right into Fate's body. "Defenser," Bardiche said, and her shield sprang into existence in front of her.
The darts ripped through the shield like it was made of tissue. Fate's barrier jacket broke after the first six hits, and her emergency Jacket Purge took care of another five. The last dart buried itself in her stomach. Fate let out a pained gasp, clutched at the dart, and then yelped as it burned her fingers.
"Fate!" I cried as I rushed toward her. Precia stiffened. "Alicia!" she screamed, but she didn't let go of her spell.
Even flying, I wasn't going to make it in time. Behemoth was bearing down on her. The fiery dart lingered, sizzling against her flesh, and she staggered.
Then a huge lupine shape barreled into Behemoth from behind with an angry snarl, knocking the Endbringer clear of Fate and into the barrier Precia had set up in the open doorway that led into her throne room. The barrier crackled loudly as Behemoth slid down it and came unsteadily up to his feet.
The creature that had attacked Behemoth was what a wolf might have looked like if it had come straight from hell; it was a weirdly symmetrical creature covered in bony plates, spikes, exposed muscles, and calcified flesh; its eyes glowed a brilliant blue, there was a large red crystal set into its forehead, and as it regarded Behemoth, it snarled in a very angry woman's voice, "Get away from my friend, you son of a bitch."
A pressure wave flowed out from the throne room, and with it came Precia's voice: "Move."
Instead of altering my course, I kept right on going: I grabbed Fate and pulled her up into my arms and flew out of the way of the blast; the hell-wolf -- Arf -- nearly lunged back after Behemoth, but Fate called out, "Arf!" and Arf turned and followed with less than a second to spare.
Eidolon and Precia fired, and Behemoth seemed to vanish before the onslaught of twin cataclysmic beams of energy, one purple, the other a scintillating silver, and the whole world seemed consumed in the sound and fury of their unleashed power.
When the light faded, Behemoth was still there; the Endbringer had been literally scoured to the bone, no longer skeletal but simply a bloody skeleton. And he was still alive. Hanging above his outstretched hand was a massive sphere of the energy he'd managed to collect from the twin attacks before it had overcome him.
It pulsed once, and then twin beams erupted outward as the sphere emptied itself into two separate attacks. One burned through the floor at a downward angle and was followed by an explosion that threw Eidolon off his feet and Precia out of her throne. The whole space station rocked violently, and a hissing sound began, soft but utterly distinct.
The second, smaller beam caught Eidolon in mid-fall, and his body exploded. Parts went everywhere. Viscera, blood, the smell was indescribably foul, and shards of his bones went flying into Precia. They caught on her barrier jacket, but the kinetic force was still enough to send her tumbling.
Eidolon's shoulders and head landed near Precia's throne, and I was certain he was dead; but a determined look came upon his face. His head detached from his neck and shoulders, sprouting a dozen fleshy tendrils that quickly shaped themselves into finger-like legs, and it skittered away like something out of a nightmare.
Precia rose to her feet, staring at the still-living Endbringer skeleton in disbelief. "Sankt Kaiser," she muttered, "He's destroyed the mana reactor."
I could feel it, then: residual mana. Residual mana from this fight, from the earlier battle, from the wreckage of the mana reactor. Behemoth was gathering it with his dynakinesis, and I knew that if I let him, we were all dead. After the fight with Fate and flying straight home to deal with the riots that lead right into the Endbringer attack, I was too exhausted -- too depleted -- to cast even the smallest spell; I was not too depleted to gather in residual mana for a Starlight Breaker.
In the hallway, fragments of blue-white light began to gather slowly back together.
I set Fate down, opened my hands, and began to fight the Endbringer for control of the mana; motes of iridescent light rose from every surface, rivers of it flowed through the air, and I could feel Behemoth tugging at it, pulling it away, and I pulled back all the harder. Some of it was going to him, but much, much more was coming to me.
Behemoth objected to that. He unleashed a torrent of flame, and the air grew unbearably hot, and I knew that if I let my concentration break even to form a shield with the mana I was collecting, I would lose my hold of it.
Myrddin stepped in the way, holding a shimmering white barrier between me and the torrent of fire with both hands outstretched. His hands began to smoke, and still he held the shield, and still the flame poured out at him. Blisters opened up across his flesh, and he grit his teeth against the pain. Then his skin began to blacken as the burns grew worse, and worse, and worse, and he screamed in agony, but he did not drop the shield.
When the torrent of flame had finally expended itself, Myrddin's hands had been charred all the way to the bone, with horrific burns tracing their way up to his elbows. He staggered drunkenly, laughing out loud with a disturbing giddiness as he sank to his knees.
Behemoth pressed forward, and the crack spread just a little further across his mangled core.
[Hold on, Taylor,] Lisa urged me. [You're almost there. Just a little more and you'll be able to overwhelm him. He's crippled, and he's never been more vulnerable than he is now.]
Arf rammed into Behemoth at a full sprint, and he reflected the kinetic energy back into her, sending her tumbling; she righted herself in mid-air, spun about to face him, and fired a blast of orange light from her mouth. Behemoth gathered it into his hand and shot it back at her in the form of orange lightning; a Barrier sprang into being in front of Arf and deflected it, and she let loose with a dozen chains of energy that wrapped themselves around his bones and briefly halted his advance.
Arf's body began to smoke, and flames leaped within her flesh, and still she came on, tearing Behemoth with her teeth, slashing with her claws, ripping into him with her bony spurs and blasting him whenever she could, and Behemoth knocked her away again and again. The fires inside of her burned ever brighter; her back legs fell off and burned to ash, and she still crawled forward to bite him.
At last, the massive bulk of the hell-wolf Arf had become was reduced to a charred lump, and then the Endbringer turned to me and opened his mouth.
That was the only warning; the nuclear laser came instantly, blasting into me and shattering my Barrier Jacket.
"Jacket Purge," Raising Heart said, and the energy of my Barrier Jacket detonated violently, briefly forming into a shield that deflected the beam even as the concussive blast flung me clear of the danger zone.
Behemoth trundled forward. His right foot broke off when he put his weight on it, and he staggered, but still he came.
[A few more seconds, Taylor,] Lisa said. [Just a few more seconds.]
I raised my arm, the energy I had gathered shining above me in a massive pool of power that Behemoth was still trying to steal. "Starlight…" I said, empowered the equations, forcing the mana into place in the face of Behemoth doing his best to drain away that same power.
Behemoth's core cracked just a little bit more, and he charged madly forward. The charm bracelet Myrddin gave me began to smoke and grew painfully hot against my skin.
Behemoth brought back his fist, and then swept forward in a punch that I knew would end my life.
Raising Heart interposed herself. "Protection, Full Charge!" she announced, and emptied all four of my remaining mana cartridges into a spell that I didn't have any power left to fuel, and it was only then that my exhausted mind realized that I'd still had the four cartridges.
Behemoth's fist struck the shimmering iridescent barrier, and the barrier held. "I won't let you hurt my Master!" she said, and then corrected herself: "... No, I won't let you hurt my FRIEND!"
[Fire!] Lisa shouted into my thoughts. [You can do it, Taylor! Fire! Don't let go! Just fire the attack!]
My vision swam, and I forced myself through it, forced the mana into place. "Br… break…"
Raising Heart's shield fell as it ran out of mana, and Behemoth's fist shattered her. Then he reached into the extra-dimensional space that contained her real hardware, and ripped something out in a spray of red crystal shards and mechanical parts.
Inside my strategic planning partition, Lisa's eyes went wide. [Taylor, hold on!] Then her image shattered, and weird echoes of her words rolled through my mind.
I screamed. My extended mind, interconnected with Raising Heart's processes, shattered, collapsing down to a single mental partition and pouring all my misery and pain down with it. I could feel Raising Heart fading, and though they sliced through my thoughts like glass, I frantically reached through the shards of broken consciousness, trying to hold on to her. [Don't go!] I begged.
Somewhere, I could hear the distant, fading echo of her voice calling my name: [Tay...lor…]
Silence. Behemoth loomed above me. Desperately I kept reaching out, howling out my soul as my tears boiled away on my cheeks.
Something reached back.
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- Location
- Germany
Time for a trigger.
And you are really letting the bodies hit the floor here. Nice to see an EB battle with actual stakes.
And you are really letting the bodies hit the floor here. Nice to see an EB battle with actual stakes.
SV5195R
C-Weapon
- Location
- Russian Federation
I concur. Still, for what is essentially having a second go against Behemoth, the team actually fared rather well, sustaining only 10% permanent losses (if you factor in all casualties, it becomes a different story, however).
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- Location
- america